Oliver Wolcott Home - CT Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Oliver Wolcott’s home in Litchfield CT.

In June of 1776, Wolcott leaves Congress due to ill health and William Williams was sent to be his substitute. On his way home, he stops in New York City to watch the crowds pull down the statue of King George III after the Declaration had been ordered to be read publicly by General Washington. The statue weighed at least 4000 pounds and was made of lead covered in gold leaf. Many people would take home bits of the statue as souvenirs. Legend has it, that the head was placed on a spike, displayed outside a local tavern, and then shipped back to London. Wolcott collects some of the pieces of the statue, ships them to the port of Norwalk in Connecticut, before taking them to his home in Litchfield. Upon arrival in Litchfield, he puts his wife, children, and the locals to work melting the pieces down and making them into bullets. A total of 42,088 bullets were made from the pieces he collected. With his 15-year-old daughter, Laura, making 8,378. His 11-year-old daughter, Mary, made 10,790 bullets and his nine-year-old son, Frederick, made 936 bullets. Frederick in later years would say that his father took an ax to some of the pieces as well. The bullets would be used at the Battle of Saratoga and be taken there by General Wolcott himself. Interestingly, twenty-five years after General Wolcott had died, the locals were still finding pieces of the statute. Those pieces included parts of the King’s saddle, horse’s tail, arm, and thigh but a total of about 1400 pounds of the statue is still missing.